Waterford get back in the groove with Wexford dismissal

Waterford 0-21 Wexford 0-11: It was, perhaps, too much to expect of Waterford that in one 70-minute swoop they’d both put to bed their 21-point Munster final annihilation and provide sufficient evidence that they’ll trouble Kilkenny far more than was the case last August.

Yesterday’s quarter-final - a curtain-raiser not by name but certainly by nature - may have arrived just a fortnight on from Waterford’s crushing defeat at the hands of Tipperary, but there wasn’t a hint of a scar or a hangover to be found here. Confidence wasn’t an issue. Neither was composure. Even long balls into the Waterford full-back line failed to a cause a ripple of panic. It was as if July 12 never even happened.

In the opening 40 minutes when this fixture was still a contest, Waterford did what they had to do and they did it satisfactorily. Conor McDonald and Lee Chin were identified as the Wexford dangermen and both were suitably dealt with.